Tinley Park community mourns unexpected death of teacher, 25, who ‘saw the positive side of everything’

Just after 3 p.m. on Oct. 12, a light went out at Virgil I. Grissom Middle School in Tinley Park.

That’s when a beloved teacher died unexpectedly in her classroom, doing what she loved.

Abby Ohl was only 25 but she’d already made an impression on her students, their parents and her fellow staffers in the Kirby School District 140 building.

“She was a very bright, very compassionate young woman with a quick sense of humor,” Grissom Principal Deborah Broadwell said. “She was a very positive person. She always saw the positive side of everything — just a rare quality in a person.”

Ohl, a sixth-grade special education teacher who also co-led student council, was helping two students with announcements when she suddenly collapsed, said Shawn Olson, District 140 assistant superintendent. READ MORE